remote sensing Article Remote Sensing of Ice Phenology and Dynamics of Europe’s Largest Coastal Lagoon (The Curonian Lagoon) Rasa Idzelyte˙ 1,*, Igor E. Kozlov 1,2,3 and Georg Umgiesser 1,4 1 Marine Research Institute, Klaipeda University, Universiteto ave. 17, LT-92294 Klaipeda, Lithuania 2 Satellite Oceanography Laboratory, Russian State Hydrometeorological University, Malookhtinsky Prosp., 98, 195196 Saint Petersburg, Russia 3 Natural Sciences Department, Klaipeda University, Herkaus Manto str. 84, LT-92294 Klaipeda, Lithuania 4 ISMAR-CNR, Institute of Marine Sciences, Arsenale—Tesa 104, Castello 2737/F, 30122 Venezia, Italy * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +370-6234-0360 Received: 8 July 2019; Accepted: 30 August 2019; Published: 2 September 2019 Abstract: A first-ever spatially detailed record of ice cover conditions in the Curonian Lagoon (CL), Europe’s largest coastal lagoon located in the southeastern Baltic Sea, is presented. The multi-mission synthetic aperture radar (SAR) measurements acquired in 2002–2017 by Envisat ASAR, RADARSAT-2, Sentinel-1 A/B, and supplemented by the cloud-free moderate imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, are used to document the ice cover properties in the CL. As shown, satellite observations reveal a better performance over in situ records in defining the key stages of ice formation and decay in the CL. Using advantages of both data sources, an updated ice season duration (ISD) record is obtained to adequately describe the ice cover season in the CL. High-resolution ISD maps provide important spatial details of ice growth and decay in the CL. As found, ice cover resides longest in the south-eastern CL and along the eastern coast, including the Nemunas Delta, while the shortest ice season is observed in the northern CL.